Eight Moncton City Councillors approved the tender for the East End Pool with Mayor Dawn Arnold and Councillor Susan Edgett voting against it.
Moncton East Youth Centre executive director Pikey French says her heart sank when she heard the mayor bring up concerns about the flood plain.
“That pool has been there since 1972, the building has been there since 1972, and there’s never been an issue of flooding,” says French. “I’m not really concerned about it, if that pool floods, we’re all in trouble.”
Meanwhile, the City of Moncton’s Director of Leisure Services says work on the new pool is expected to begin next month, with the hope of being open for June 2019.
Jocelyn Cohoon explains some of the features of the $2.3 million pool attached to the Moncton East Youth Centre.
“It will be elevated somewhat to mitigate flooding as much as we can, built with materials that will mitigate flooding as much as possible, it is a 25 metre pool, and has a zero entry,” says Cohoon.
A zero entry is designed to allow children, seniors, and those with mobility issues get in and out of the pool much more easily.
French says when she heard the concerns being brought up again said “Oh my God, what happened here? I knew the Mayor, she’s been opposed from day one, so I wasn’t surprised.”
“I started hearing the other remarks and I thought oh please, not again, I can’t take it again,” exclaimed French.
She adds some councillors seem to be confused about what catchment area the Moncton East Youth Centre reaches, saying it reaches from Vaughn Harvey Boulevard in the west, to way down Shediac Road in the east.
“You have Humphrey, Lewisville, you have all of those low income units, that’s the area of town they use, and it has been neglected for probably the last 20 years,” says French.
Cohoon, meanwhile, says this new pool is being rebuilt on the exact same site, and lists what will be in the new facility, apart from the zero entry.
“It will also have shade structures, it will also have some spray features, it will have a bank of washrooms, and a change area,” says Cohoon.
In order to pay for this, various funding pieces had to be moved around, with Cohoon clarifying what had taken place.
She says the city was given approval last year by the provincial government to borrow $1 million from the Municipal Capital Borrowing Board, they had $150,000 in their budget to use, combined with a $500,000 grant announced by the province this year.
That left them with a shortfall of approximately $700,000, which they made up for by pushing off a couple projects.
“The larger item that will be delayed, there will be one less park that we will build in 2019,” says Cohoon. “So typically, through our recreation master plan we build four parks per year, we either build or renovate four parks.”
This year, she says “we will be doing three parks instead of four” although she admits they have not yet chosen which project to eliminate.
The Moncton East Youth Centre has been without a pool since 2013 when it was closed, and has remained a contentious issue as the years went by.
French says ultimately, while the kids at the centre will be happy to hear the good news from Council, they are likely going to maintain a healthy skepticism until they see work actually begin.
